Congratulations on new weed management grants

Cal-IPC Board of Directors advocating at the Capitol in February 2018

Cal-IPC’s advocacy in 2018 secured $2 million for weed management in the FY2018/2019 budget of the California Dept. of Food & Agriculture (CDFA), In May 2019, awards were announced for 30 grants to 20 counties (see award list). In addition, funding will support ongoing prevention work of PlantRight, a collaboration dedicated to keeping invasive plants out of horticulture.

Securing the next round of funding

Governor Newsom’s budget for the 2019/2020 fiscal year includes a Budget Change Proposal from the California Dept. of Food & Agriculture (CDFA) to help implement the California Biodiversity Initiative.  $3M is slated to fund the Noxious Weed Management Account which supports local Weed Management Areas (WMAs). This is a tremendous opportunity to secure the annual funding needed to make the program go. (See how the program is structured in state Food and Agricultural Code.) Many thanks to all the groups that have signed onto our coalition support letter — we will need to continue this advocacy in future years to ensure steady funding for this important work.

Help us build ongoing support for WMAs

It is critical that land managers share their work with their state representatives.(If you’re not sure who that is, here is a site where you can find your legislators.) Invite them and their staff to field visits as part of California Invasive Species Awareness Week in early June each year. Keep their offices updated on the work of your WMA and the ways in which invasive plant management serves their constituents.  You can use our outreach materials that illustrate the impacts of weeds and the role of WMAs or make your own. Together we need to make sure that the importance of this issue is well understood so that funding for this work is not so easily removed during future budget crises.

Thank you for partnering to address invasive plants in California!